Kennedy Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 198,030 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,941 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Arko were worth $1,129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARKO. CM Management LLC raised its stake in Arko by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 720,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,104,000 after buying an additional 110,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Arko by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,828,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,820,000 after buying an additional 82,831 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its position in Arko by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 80,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 60,000 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in Arko by 84.3% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 98,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 45,000 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Arko by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,039,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,574,000 after purchasing an additional 28,883 shares during the period. 78.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arko Price Performance

NASDAQ ARKO opened at $6.55 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $758.10 million, a PE ratio of 25.19 and a beta of 0.45. Arko Corp. has a 52-week low of $4.09 and a 52-week high of $8.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.13, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.53. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $6.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.19.

Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Arko had a net margin of 0.39% and a return on equity of 13.20%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Arko Corp. will post 0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arko Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Arko’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Arko from $7.00 to $5.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Arko from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 9th.

About Arko

Arko Corp. operates convenience stores in the United States. It operates through Retail, Wholesale, Fleet Fueling, and GPMP segments. The Retail segment engages in the sale of fuel and merchandise to retail consumers. Its Wholesale segment supplies fuel to third-party dealers and consignment agents. The Fleet Fueling segment supplies fuel to proprietary and third-party cardlock, and issuance of proprietary fuel cards.